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Hi Jan,

Sorry I can't help with the ages. You couldn't have asked anyone worse.

I was thinking that a call to the local library might get you a list of the schools in that area at any given time. Most libraries know of at least one local historian who might be able to help. I do some local historical research and often get calls from people referred by the library, often with very interesting results.

Your main difficulty is obviously that the photos contain no clues. A poster on the wall, naming the school, would have been useful. The desks etc. are standard pre-war school furniture, so no help there. I know that sending copies of the pictures to local school is a long shot but sometimes that sort of thing pays off. I've just finished researching a wartime airman killed over Holland. Kids from a  Dutch school now tend his grave and wanted to know more about him. All they knew was that he came from my area so the school contacted the local paper, hoping for any information. That one contact led to others and got them virtually his entire life history. Go for it and let's hope you have similar luck.

Regards,

Keith

Hello again  Jan,

Here is the other photograph.

All I have sone so far is to increase the contrast. I'm afraid I can do very little with the child st the right of the front row.

Many of the marks and scratches can easily be removed but to take out the blue ink would be a major task. If you would like it tidied up further, plese let me know.

Which area was the school in and which child is your mother?

Keith

Hi Jan,

Number two might take a little longer but here is number one. I have converted to grayscale as being the easist means of removing alll the blue from the faces but still have the full colour version if you would prefer it.

What happened? Has someone thrown a bottle of light blue ink over them or something? I've never seen kids with blue faces before.

Keith

Hi,

All parish records for the Birmingham area are held on microfiche at Birmingham Central Library, which also has a large collection of books listing tombstone inscriptions for the various cemeteries around the city. It might be worth giving them a call or, if you are close enough, paying a visit to the 6th floor, where family records are held.

Regards,

Keith

I guess a letter or e-mail to the relevant registry office, pointing out the error, shoul do it.

It is much more fun when the certificate is wrong. A relative of mine has a surname which can be spelt either with or without a final "e". In his case it should be spelt without. It was only when he joined the army and they queried the name he gave that the errpr on the birth cert, where his name had been spelt with an "e", came to light. The registrar had simply dashed off the name without asking his parents to spell it.

He immediately attempted to get a corrected cert and was told that since a birth cert is a legal document he would have to apply to a judge to get it altered. He didn't bother.

Keith